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Monday, April 4, 2011

Not far from where I grew up, there's a building with a big banner saying "Knights of Columbus BINGO Tuesday nights." I don't remember ever seeing a different banner, or ever seeing any people there. The building is totally nondescript—but I did like their weather vane.

So I was curious. What are the Knights? It turns out that the Knights are the world's largest Catholic service organization. Named after Christopher Columbus, the Knights were founded in 1882 to provide for widows and orphans. Famous Knights include John F. Kennedy, Vince Lombardi, and Babe Ruth. In 2009, the Knights gave more than $151 million directly to charity and performed over 69 million man hours in volunteer service.